However, for Weber and his representatives, the possibility of life away from Nashville opened up on July 4.

"The marketplace changed on July 4 there," Weber's agent Jarrett Bousquet told TSN Radio 1050's Cybulski and Company on Thursday. "The other contract [of] Shea's old defence partner (Ryan Suter) re-set the market."

With Suter inking a 13-year, $98 million contract with the Minnesota Wild as an unrestricted free agent, Bousquet felt that the price of a two-time Norris Trophy finalist like Weber had just gone up.

"When that happened we saw 13-year deals coming and 14-year deals coming, which Shea was able to sign under the 'Kovalchuk rule,'" Bousquet said. "We all sat down and looked at the different options and thought, you know, if there is a 14-year contract coming down the pipe at some point, we need to be ready for it and we need to know that you want to play there for the next 14 years."